Tower



I 3 SheetsSheet 3. J, s'. ADAMS.-

(No Model.)

No. 294,343. Patented Panza'1884-..-

rigid and skeleton-like base adapted to suping my invention; Fig. 2, atop plan view of base-support of the tower; Fig. 4, a similar UNITEDSTATES PATENT OrErcE.v

JOHN S. ADAMS, OF ELGIN, ILLINOIS.

' TOWER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 294,343, dated February26, 1884.

Application filed August 7, IBSQ. (No model.)

fo all whom, it may concern:

'Be it known that I, JOHN S. ADAMs, a citizen of the United States,residing in Elgin, county of Kane, and State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Towers, Yof which the followingis a specilication. 4My invention relates to improvements in skeletontowers constructed of tubing and rods particularly adapted, owing totheir openness, for elevating electric lights, but which are alsoadapted for light-houses and for supporting windmills and for signalingpurposes.

rIhe objects of my invention are to provide. a tower constructed oflight tubing and rods, which, when elevated to a great height, may berendered correspondingly rigid without materially destroying itsskeleton-like form; to` provide such a tower with a correspondinglyportthe tower above the carriage-way of a street, and particularly over theintersections of streets, which support shall not obstruct the street orsidewalk, or, alone or with the tower, present an unsightly appearanceor obstruct the light from electric lamps supportedby the tower. Iattain these objects by devices illustrated in the laccompanyingdrawings, in

which- Figure l represents a side elevation of a quadrangular tower andbase-support embodythe base-support, showing more particularly thetrussed bridging supporting the `tower above the carriage-way of thestreet; Fig. 3, a cross-section through one of the uprights of the viewthrough one sectionof the bridging; Fig. 5, a similarview through one ofthe tower standards or struts; Fig. 6, a perspective of a triangulartower, showing the adaptation of my invention thereto; and Fig. 7, a topplan view of the bridging of the same. Similar letters of referenceindicate the sam parts in the several figures of the drawings.

To arrive at a realization ofthe importance of my present inventionbefore entering upon a detail description thereof, it may be well todirect attentionto the tower shownin my patent of February 6,1877, andafterward to theadaptation of this particular construction of tower whenadapted for electric-light purposes, vas shown and described inapplications now about to be patented to me. In the patented tower eachupright consists of sections of tubing, jointed together in single andcontinuous lengths, the several uprights being connected by horizontalstruts, andintersecting diagonal braces arranged between the uprights,the purpose of such construction being the production of a skeletontower, of a minimum amount of metal consistent with rigidity, strength,and durability,for supporting windmills, which are usually elevated at avery moderate height as compared with that required for electric lightswhen employed for street-lighting purposes. In the iirst of theapplications referred tono material change is made in the towerstructure proper, except that of leaving open the top of the tower toenable electric lights to pass through the top when elevated; but in thesecond application these uprights and the struts are shown and describedsubstantially the same as in the present application, but are notclaimed.

' As before intimated, it is not only desirable that towers for electriclights should be of skeleton form, and as open as possible to avoid vobstructing'. the light, but of a very much greater heightthan isrequired for other purposes-as, for instance, windmill-towers are veryrarelybuilt over a hundred to a hundred and iifty feet in height, whileelectric-light towers should be from two to ve hundred feet in height,and to provide such a tower this invention is particularly designed.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the base-support therein shown is providedwith four vertical uprights, A, adapted to span a street or to rest uponeach corner of intersecting streets,which uprights are composed ofparallel sections of tubing c, termed chords,7 arranged at the cornersof a triangle, except the lower section of Athe upright, which sectionlhas its chords converging downwardly-to the anchorage B, which may beof any suitable construction. vWith the understanding that thetubesections are from ve to ten feet in length, it will be understoodthat the particular purpose for converging the lower section of thestandard is principally to avoid as much as IOO possible an obstructionfrom this lower portion of the standard to vehicles or to individualswhen the uprights are set at or on the edge ol' a sidewalk. Eachadjacent section of the chords is joined by a V-coupling, b, to which inturn are secured horizontal tubular struts c, (see Fig. 3,) and betweenand connecting each strut are two diagonally-intersecting rods dividedat their centers ol' length and screw-threaded into a ring or plate, c,wherebythey are made adjustable like the struts, to increase or diminishtheir tension upon the uprights. By this construction it will be seenthat the uprights have the desired skeleton appearance, and at the sametime embrace the strongest trussed form knownnamely, that of a triangle.These uprights are of a sufiicient height to elevate the lower ,end oftheir top section some twenty or more feet above the carriage-way, andare so arranged that their diagonally-opposite faces shall be parallelwith each other to provide for attachment of the parallel chords of thebridgingto each of the four opposing chords of the uprights. A

C and D represent the diagonal and intersecting bridging forming thebase-support of the tower, which bridging is composed of seetions oftubing forming two upper parallel chords, f f, coupled to the respectiveupper ends of the chords of the standards, and two lower parallelchords, f/ g, coupled at the lower end of the chords of the uppersection of the standards, the four chords of the bridging taken togetherforming the outline of a quadrangle and each chord of the quadranglebeing connected with the adjacent chords by diagonal rods h, similar inevery respect to those of the uprights, and attached to couplingsholding horizontal braces 17 of tubing, connecting each of thc two upperand lower chords, respectively. Internal diagonally-intersecting rods,7:, (sce Fig. 4,) may be employed between each horizontal strut fortrussing this bridge structure, which structure has its intersectionsjoined by four-way couplings l, but in other respects is of uniformconstruction. v

To render the structure composed by the uprights and bridgingadditionally rigid, and to prevent any possibility of its becomingtwist-ed or distorted, long diagonally intersecting rods or tubes E,similar to those above described, are employed on the four sides of thequadrangle formed by the standards, and are secured to the upper andlower end ofthe top section of the standards at these corners.

F represents atower, theinclined standards of which are composed oftubing, and having its two lower standard-sections trussed, ashereinafter described, while the upper standard-sections are eachcomposed of single tubes joined to the trussed sections. Each sectionGof the lower portion of these standards is composed of three chordsarrangedat the corners of a triangle connected by horizontal with theadjacent section and with the upper struts ot' the bridging by couplingsmf, which couplings where joining the sections also join horizontalstruts H, constructed precisely in the same manner as the uprights ofthetower, adjustable diagonal braces a being employed on the sides of thetower in the same manner and for the same purpose as iu formerstructures referred to.

Trnssing the several parts of my structure in the manner describedenables me to construct a base support capable of supporting the weightof an exceedingly high tower without the employment of a heavycumbersome structure which would not only-disigure and shade the street,but seriously obstruct the rays of light from the electric lamps mountedon the tower; and, also, to construct a tower which shall have all theelements of strength, together with openness or skeleton-like f orni andwhich will present less resisting-surface to the wind than ifconstructed of any other form embodying the same strength and rigidity;and in this connection it may be added that as the tubes, rods, and aportion of the couplings are common articles of merchandise, and alwaysinl stock, it will be understood that the cost of building such astructure involves comparatively .small expense over a similar structurein which numerous angle-irons and novel forms of castings would berequired, and that it requires a less amount of metal for given strengththan would be involved by any other form.

In Figs. 6 and 7 is shown a tower embodying my invention, which tower istriangular in cross-section, and is particularly adapted to be employedin open spaces, or where one of two streets running at right angles'terminates in the other, as indicated by the full lines at the cornersof the tower in Fig. 7 the intention being to support two of .theuprights at the respective corners of the streets, and the third uprighton the opposite side of the continuous street. This triangular tower hasits uprights and struts constructed in the same manner as beforedescribed, but its bridging I is composed of three members of the samelength and angle, joined at the center of the tower, so that the joinedends of these members form a triangle having a common center with thetower, and the two outer sections of these members have their respectiveupper and lower chords, s s, converging toward the uprights of thetower, where they are joined by a coupling, t. By thus converging theupper and lower chords of these members 11o eX- tra couplings arerequired, and the strains of the members are centered upon the couplingsjoining the girts and uprights of the tower, and are furthermore given aform best adapted to withstand crushing or compressing strains.

lVhile I have shown the uprights of a tri- IOO IIO

angular tower as inclined from the ground up, it is obvious that whenthe span of the streets is greater than the cross-section of the base ofthe tower should be the bridging may be supported on vertical uprights,and the tower-base be supported on the struts of the bridging in thesame manner as shown in Fig. l, though of course it is desirable thatthe tower should be so supported as to have a common center with thebridging, which end may be attained by supporting the uprights of thetower on the girts u u, respectively. (See Fig. 7 This bridging inyeither structure is adapted and is intended to be employed as a walk forthe attendant to reach the center of the tower at an elevation above thecarriageway, for the purpose of manipulating a lampcarriage supportingelectric lamps, and ,forv

supplying fresh carbons to lamps or otherwise attending to them whensaid lamps are raised and lowered through the center of the tower, asshown in my applications already referred to,` though of course thebridging in Fig. 6 has the additional function of trussing and bracingthe tower proper.

Havingthus described my invention, wha I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, 1s-

l. A tower eachupright of which is in sections, said sections beingcomposed of several trussed chordsv converging toward theirY extremity,substantially as described.

2. A tower each upright of which consists of several sections, saidsections being respectively composed of several trussed chordsconverging at their extremities, and each section being joined to theadjacent section by a single coupling, substantially as described.

3.l A tower the uprights and struts of which are each respectivelycomposed of several trussed chords, said uprights and struts beingconnected with each other by screw-threaded couplings, -substantially asdescribed.

4. A tower each upright of which is in sec- Ysection or sections,substantially as described.

5. The combination of abridging supported above a carriage-way with askeleton tower consisting of two or more sections,the uprights of whichrest upon and are supported by said bridging, the base of said towerbeing less than the area covered by said bridging, substantially asdescribed.

6. The combination,with a tower, of a bridging supported above acarriage-way and composed of vseveral members intersecting with eachother and having a common center with the tower at their points ofintersection, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with a tower, of a bases'upport elevating the towerabove a carriageway, the uprights of which support are eachY bridging,likewise composed of several trussed chords, substantially as described.

9. The combination, with atower, of a basesupport elevating the towerabove a carriageway, the uprights of which supports are each `composedof several trussed tubular chords, substantially as described.

10. In basefsupports elevating towers above a carriage-way, thecombination,with uprights, each composed of several trussed tubularchords, of a bridging, likewise composed of 8o

